Regret x Atonement
by Red-Drive
Summary: Krome is a young girl from Lastation who has recently lost her older sister. Having departed on bad terms, Krome is filled with a deep regret over her last words to her sister. As the world appeared as if it could not get any darker, Black Heart appears before her. What are her intentions? No pairings. One-Shot.


**Regret x Atonement**

Young Krome's hands sunk deeper into the moist soil beneath her as she sat alone before a moss-covered grave marker. The young maker had a relatively slim build with white hair and crimson eyes. The rain fell relentlessly against the adolescent's back, but it went unnoticed. The smell of the most dirt permeated Krome's senses as she sullenly read the grave marker aloud: "Here rests Sierra of Lastation. A valued agent of the Armed Force and a beloved older sister." The last three words revived an unpleasant memory for the white-haired girl.

_The incident had occurred about two weeks ago. Sierra and Krome had gotten into an argument over Krome's behavior at home. "It wouldn't kill you to help out a little, Krome!" yelled Sierra. The taller of the two, the older sister towered over Krome. Her cold, blue eyes glared down at the younger sister. _

_Krome rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Sierra. You're not even home half of the time." The younger sibling immediately returned to playing with her newest handheld, ignoring her sister. She lay on a beige sofa, her expression one of complete and utter apathy. _

_Sierra growled. "Give me that!" A slightly larger hand tightly grasped the Playstation Vita in Krome's hands. _

_"Hey! Hands off!" whined Krome. _

_The two siblings struggled to maintain a grasp on the small console. Krome was forced to sit up in the process, leaning over the couch to prevent Sierra from completely snatching the small console out of her hands. The struggle went on for a few seconds before a cracking noise caught their attention. _

_Krome immediately looked down and gasped- the screen had cracked! "Damn it Sierra! I just got this." _

_"Well you could always get another one if you got a job," argued Sierra._

_"That's not the point! Mom got this for me before she-"_

_"Mom's__** gone**__, Krome," screamed Sierra. Seeing Krome's eyes suddenly go wider than the rings of Saturn, Sierra immediately regretted her words. "H-Hey, Krome?"_

_Krome immediately rose from the couch and made for the hallway of the small apartment. "Leave me alone," she said in a low voice. _

_Sierra worriedly followed her little sister back to her room, causing Krome to quietly open the door to her room and swiftly close it behind her. Sierra shifted her eyes from left to right. "Look, I'm sorry. Work's been rough and it would just really help if you'd at least tidy around the house."_

_Silence._

_"It's always like this with you," complained a sniffling Krome. "Work this. Work that. Ever since Mom left, you've been a real scrooge, you know that?" She paused for a moment before whimpering, "I hate this. I'd be better off without you."_

_Sierra turned away from the door. "Do what you want, but I just want to let you know that you're on your own for a few days. I've got a mission to take care of for the CPU." She paused and took a few steps away from the door. "Come out in about an hour. I'll have dinner ready for you." _

_No reply. _

"I waited for a few days. Figured you'd be home as soon as possible," muttered Krome. Her sobbing never ceased. Bits of mud dirtied her face each time she wiped her eyes with her arms. "Then you never came back. A week passed. And then finally, the police came by. I didn't want to believe it, but then they showed me the body." The white-haired girl lurched as the unpleasant memory resurfaced. "It's not fair."

Silence. Thunder roared through the darkened sky.

"I'm sorry," whispered Krome to the small grave. The last words she had ever said to her sister were still fresh in her mind. "I didn't mean that. I never thought-" she couldn't finish her sentence. Her tears had drowned out her voice. Alone in the pouring rain, the young maker wished for nothing more than a single voice of reassurance. Nearly an hour passed, but she never moved from that spot.

At last, another voice. "That's strange. I was sure that no would be visiting at this time. Hey! Are you alright? It's not good to be out in this kind of weather."

Krome slowly turned around. Standing before her was a beautiful young woman with black hair done in twintails with deep-red eyes. She bit her lip. It was obvious who this was. "G-Good day, Lady Black Heart."

Noire blinked for a moment, looking at the grave and then at Krome. Something seemed to click as Noire raised an eyebrow. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She turned around, staring up at the dark-gray sky. "I-I see. So you're Sierra's little sister. It's strange. You look so much like her up close."

"Well, we _were_ sisters," muttered Krome.

There was silence.

The black-haired CPU turned around, summoning a second umbrella. "I had actually gone by to your home. Your sister was of high rank in our forces and I wanted to ensure that you were well taken care of. I suppose I should have guessed that you would be here."

Krome returned her gaze to the grave. Was Black Heart trying to console her or simply exchange small talk? Regardless, the white-haired girl was in no mood to exchange pleasantries. "I-I'm sorry, but I really don't wanna talk right now."

Noire looked down at the younger girl with thoughtful eyes. "You look like you could be Uni's age." Sighing, the black-haired CPU said, "That's fine. I was looking for you because I needed to give you something."

"Hmm?" Krome turned around with curious eyes. She was met with a familiar, black gunblade. The gun and sword pieces were mainly black with silver lining and red lines artistically engraved into the black parts of the weapon. The blade sat atop the gun, capable of switching into sword mode like a swiss army knife. Krome's eyes lit up with surprise. "Th-That's Sierra's gunblade." Looking up at Noire, she asked, "Where did you get that?"

"I went to the site and found it. I help make the weapons handed out to the top agents by imbuing it with some of Lastation's shares to enhance its wielder's magic, so it wouldn't be too good if someone else got a hold of this." Crouching down towards the little girl, she said, "But I think it'd be better if you have it."

Krome considered it for a moment. "But I thought only top members of the Armed Force could have one."

"W-Well," Noire paused. "W-Whatever! I'll make an exception for you. Just because I feel bad about what happened! Be sure to take good care of it, okay?"

Krome almost feel backward when Noire shoved the slightly large weapon into her hands. She looked down at the weapon with gratitude and renewed vigor. "W-Wow." She looked up to say thank you, but Noire was already walking away. "Th-Thank you!" yelled Krome. "I'll take good care of it"

Noire stopped walking. A smile crept onto her face. "You better." She paused before saying, "And for what it's worth, I'm sorry."

Krome barely caught what Noire had said. The thunder had drowned it out, but before she could ask for any kind of confirmation, Noire changed into HDD and swiftly began to fly in the general direction of the Lastation basilicom. The white-haired girl looked down at the gunblade once more, clenching it tightly and holding it to her chest. It was cold, but the cold steel against her flesh reminded her that she was still alive.

*****Five Years Later*****

"Raise your head," commanded Noire. She currently stood at the balcony of her basilicom. Today was the day to congratulate the latest member of the Armed Force on their entrance into the force. She looked down at a familiar head of white hair. Something about this particular child seemed very familiar.

Krome did as she was told, raising her head whilst kneeling before the CPU of Lastation. "It's an honor, milady."

Noire looked down at the white-haired girl with curiosity. Circling her for a moment, she finally caught sight of the girl's crimson eyes. "Ah, you're that girl from five years ago. Krome, right?"

Krome chuckled sheepishly. "Y-Yeah, it's me. I had no real use for a gunblade besides working as a member of the Armed Force, so I applied for this position as soon as I could so that I could get some use out of it."

"Hmm." Noire turned her gaze to the left wall of the basilicom. "Your sister was strong and a hard worker. Are you prepared?"

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't," replied Krome.

The black-haired CPU smiled. "Very well then. Your first assignment is to-"

"'Sup Noire! How's it going?" asked Neptune loudly.

"Gah! N-Neptune!" yelled Noire.

The violet-haired CPU sauntered through the basilicom as if it were her own property. Eyes falling on Krome, she asked, "Who's the new girl? She's kinda cute. Still, you pull off twintails far better than she does."

"Ugh." The taller CPU sighed with frustration. "I'm actually in the middle of assigning her a mission as a member of the Armed Force."

"Why not call it the Guild? That's basically who she'll be working with, right?" asked Neptune with a curious voice. "Wait, Iffy said she'd be training a new member of the Guild-"

"Armed Force," corrected Noire.

"Yeah, yeah, same smell," replied Neptune. "Anyway, is she the one Iffy's taking on patrol today?"

Before Noire could answer, IF entered through the main entrance. "Hello, Noire."

"IF, it's been a while," replied Noire.

IF took a moment to make her way over to the balcony where Noire waited with Neptune and Krome. She studied Krome's features, noting that Krome was barely taller than Neptune. On all accounts, she was a fairly small girl. "She's kind of small. Is she really going to be alright, Noire?"

Krome immediately withdrew her gunblade and flicked the trigger forward, causing the blade to rotate and transform the gun into a sword. "If there's one thing I'm confident in, it's my fighting." With a glowing right hand, she said, "Of course, I'm also quite confident as a magician."

"Oh, not bad," said IF with a smirk. _"She's confident. Maybe a little too confident. Still, I'll take her word for it, for now." _Extending her hand, IF asked, "Shall we get going?"

Meanwhile, Noire gazed at the gunblade with surprise. It was the very same one she had given her five years ago. It had suffered some wear and tear, but it appeared as if it had been well-maintained. _"Good for you," _she thought to herself quietly. _  
_

Neptune ripped Noire from her thoughts by saying, "Gee Noire, you're staring pretty hard. Better stop or you'll scare her."

Noire immediately turned around to face the violet-haired goddess. "Wh-Why you!"

Krome paused to think, re-sheathing her gunblade as she did so. _"A lot's happened, but I'm gonna be working with these people from now on." _Seeing Neptune and Noire argue, she giggled. Suddenly, her giggle became an honest laugh. Everyone in the room eyed her with confusion. Sheepishly scratching the back of her head, she said, "I-I'm sorry. Watching the two of you reminded me a lot of my sister and me."

Neptune beamed at the white-haired girl's words. "Hear that, Noire? We're like sisters!" Her attempts to hug the black-haired CPU were immediately foiled as Noire held out an arm to keep Neptune at a distance.

"Neptune, cut that out!" demanded Noire. "A-Anyway, Krome, you're to go with IF and inspect a new firmware development site that appeared a few weeks ago. They don't have the proper paperwork on file and I'm suspicious that they may be up to no good." While saying this, Noire continued to maintain her distance from Neptune while grabbing a piece of hard candy from the bowl on her desk. Neptune immediately ceased her attempts to hug the taller CPU and held out her hands expectantly. After receiving the candy, the violet-haired CPU immediately turned her attention to enjoying her snack.

Looking down at IF's outstretched hand, Krome finally shook it and said, "Sorry about the wait. I'm looking forward to working with you."

"Likewise," answered IF. As IF made to check her quests and equipment inventory, she noticed Krome still staring at Noire and Neptune. A gentle smile was on the white-haired girl's face. "Hey, are you fully equipped? We might run into monsters on the way there."

"Hmm? Oh, right. I equipped all of my stuff this morning before I left my apartment," answered Krome. Opening the door for IF, she asked, "Shall we?"

IF nodded. "Let's." Without another word, the two makers embarked on their adventure.

Noire on the other hand watched the two leave with a smile on her face. Sitting down at her desk, she looked up at Neptune, who was greedily stuffing her hands into Noire's candy bowl- that was her favorite candy! "Neptune?"

"Huh?" Neptune ceased her gobbling to see Noire staring at her with an unusual smirk on her face. "Wh-What's up, Noire?"

Noire carefully pulled out a small piece of paper with ten boxes and nine red checkmarks filled in. "Our agreement was that you could come visit whenever you wanted, but if you came and raided my food ten times, you would have to take me out to any sweets store of my choosing." Filling in the last checkmark, Noire grinned cruelly as she watched Neptune go pale.

"Z-Zoinks!" Apparently Neptune remembered this deal. "W-Well, uh, I-" remembering how Noire cleared out her wallet last time they went somewhere together, Neptune was extremely hesitant to take Noire anywhere. Her monthly allowance from Histy (and possibly more) would be finished! "I just remembered that I have something to do today! Work? Oh yeah, work! Nepgear's probably lonely, so I think I'll-"

"-Hold it right there, Neptune," replied Noire. "Surely you're not planning to skip out on our deal, are you?" The black-haired CPU made feigned a dejected sign as she muttered, "And I had a cup of deluxe pudding for us to share when we got back."

"Oh look at that, I suddenly don't have work to do," said Neptune with her usual goofy smile. "So, where are we eating?"

"Perfect," replied Noire. On the inside an evil laugh that could make Arfoire quake in her boots resounded throughout Noire's mind. _"Prepare yourself, Neptune. I still have to pay you back for zinging me in front of the new girl."_

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

This one is the first of a few one-shots in the works. This particular one gives the backstory for Krome, a new maker named after Krome Studios, the people who made the first two Legend of Spyro games. As such, her abilities will be elemental-based (based on Spyro's elemental breath) for the most part. Setting wise, this takes place fifteen years after Re;birth1. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed this little one-shot.


End file.
